Only one emotion? With all due respect, peewee_RotA, from your post I would imagine many psychologists would say your “emotion” has been crushed into oblivion!
Don’t try to be so macho. Crying is necessary for emotional balance, so you might consider unclenching your buttocks someday and having yourself a good long cry. Loss of affect is a symptom of serious depression!
Second-season Millenium (the third veered–or nosedived–into a different show entirely), episode “Luminary”. Particularly back when it first aired, its theme of a spiritual awakening hit pretty damn hard.
Sesame Street - when Mr Hooper died. I was sitting on the living room floor, staring, mouth open, at the TV. I was 5 or 6 at the time but I just knew that he was never going to be back on the show. I felt a huge pain in my chest and I felt really sad - I remember that distinctly.
MAS*H
Every time Colonel Henry Blake’s chopper goes down over the sea of Japan and there are no survivor’s.
And other eps I’m sure–especially when Hawkeye loses it, like in the finale when he finally has his break-through.
Buffy
Fool for Love: Spike’s story of being made and when Buffy echos the words “Never with you, you’re beneath me.”
The Body: Kind of obvious (and nearly continuous).
Most of the season finales – especially when Angel dies, Angel leaves for LA, and then when Buffy dies. Also, when Oz leaves Willow.
Angel
I Will Remember You: Buffy and Angel finally have all they dreamed of and Angel must once again sacrifice it ‘to save the world’ by having the powers reverse time with the oh-too-sad fact that Angel alone will remember that day and all they had together.
Hero: Wherein our favorite Irish half-man, half demon sacrifices himself for all (after finally kissing Cordelia).
Various episodes of China Beach.
Those are the one’s that jump out at me for now.
In deference to another thread…
Warning - May Contain Spoilers for Bolded Shows
I never cry while watching tv or movies. I did get close to crying on several episodes of Buffy.
Becoming - Part 2. Buffy has to send Angel to hell just as he regains his soul. This reaches a crescendo as her mother reads her good-bye note. I get a little misty everytime.
The Body. Didn’t seem calculated to me. My own mother died, and it really brought back some issues. During the whole episode, I felt like I’d been kicked in the stomach.
Note to Legomancer: I found Anya’s speech to reflect the way I feel about death. I don’t understand it either. Also, although she caused death as a demon, she never had to struggle with her own mortality, or the loss of ones close to her. She was impervious and above the fray of humanity.
The Gift. The last two minutes. The speech that Buffy gives about figuring it all out. Watching Spike and Willow as they cry.
Other shows that got me misty:
MASH. The previously mentioned chicken/baby story. Probably a few other episodes, but I don’t watch it much anymore.
ER. I don’t even watch this show every week, but I was watching the week that Lucy died. That last “thank you” really got me.
My mom always cries at the episode of the Simpsons when Homer’s mother returns and has to leave again. It was on the other day and I thought about calling her to let her know it was on but then decided not to since she’s just cry over it. Of course, the end of the episode, she calls me and says she just watched it.
" I Am Hugh " episode of “Star Trek The Next Generation”. The moment when a little piece of humanity starts to creep into the Borg’s perception is very touching.
All In The Family:
Archie is sitting on his bed after Edith’s funeral and he finds her slippers underneath the bed. He completely breaks down, he speaks to the heavens and says he was supposed to the one to go first, not her. That was the way it was supposed to be. The scene closes with Archie sitting there with his head in his hands, completely devastated. We realize that despite his oftentimes poor treatment of her, he loved her more than all else.
Everyone in my house shed tears, even my hard as nails father.
If Archie Bunker could cry, we all should be able to.
I get misty just thinking of that scene.
The final episode of MASH.
I’m a West Wing fan, and the capital punishment episode + Josh’s breakdown got to me.
SPOILER!
One of the first episodes of Six Feet Under.
In the first episode, the father is killed when his hearse is hit by a bus.
David, the Gay son deals with his father’s death by NOT dealing with it.
In a later episode, Nate’s girlfriend tells Nate and David to meet her at a certain corner of LA at a certain time.
The guys show up, not knowing why she wants them to meet her there. She meets them, then she has them grab a passing bus.
When the guys ask her why she had them meet her just to take a bus, she tells them “This is THE bus”…
When David realizes what she’s talking about, he finally breaks down about his father’s death.
Then the show faded. I think I was sobbing as much as the character.
SFCanadian
I don’t really have a favorite show, but some moments that I remember are:
No one has yet mentioned the end of the X-Files episode “Triangle,” where Mulder finally says, “Scully? …I love you.” I know this is an issue with some of the “noromo” fans, but for me it wasn’t about the romance as much as it was about Mulder finally being able to express his feelings and about knowing how long it took for him to get to that point. Yep, cried for two minutes right there.
Any episode (just about) when a baby is born. The moment on Friends when Phoebe comes rushing out of the bathroom while the others are squabbling about something and cries, “You guys! You guys! I’m pregnant!” I just dissolved. Just that 180 of fighting-to-joy, when you know how important it is for this to work. Also, the “Mabel is born” episode of Mad About You, when Paul and Jamie are holding their beautiful new baby as the nurse pulls the curtain aside at dawn and Paul says, “This is the good room.” Waaaah!
The episodes of thirtysomething dealing with Gary’s death, starting with the news coming immediately after they’re all reassured and happy that Nancy’s okay, through the funeral and Michael dealing with oh, heck, what was Gary’s girlfriend’s name, settling the estate and helping the girlfriend move out, and then Nancy or someone says “We’re never going to see [Emma? the baby] ever again,” all had me sniffling and snorting periodically.
I’m sure there are many episodes of ST:TNG that had me going, but I can’t think of them specifically. Maybe “Tapestry” (Picard dies and Q shows him how his life would have turned out if he had made a different choice in his youth - It’s a Wonderful Life in Starfleet.)
…so I don’t know if someone has already said this, but the season finale of The West Wing this last season. When “Brothers in Arms” started playing, and it went perfectly with what was going on…I recorded it and watched it three times and it made me cry everytime.
And it was only a week ago. The last episode this season of Six Feet Under just ripped me.
SPOILER…AND IF YOU DON’T WATCH THIS SHOW NOW, YOU MUST FIND A WAY TO GET YOUR HANDS ON THE FIRST SEASON BECAUSE IT IS THE BEST SHOW EVER.
The trigger was the question to Nate: “Why do we die?” and his reply: “To make life important”
Oh lord… I cried for 15 minutes.
stoid
This question bemused me lately. There are shows that I love, and I’ve had definite reactions to them. I had to look away in H:LotS when Tim revealed his abuse to Frank, I froze during Sam’s “It was high treason, and it mattered a great deal” speech in TWW, and I flinched (hugely) when Faith approached Wesley with that piece of glass on Angel. But I don’t usually cry. Eyes well up, yes (the entire episode about Crosetti’s death on H:LotS,) but not cry.
Except this summer, twice, when Sports Night left me crying like an infant. Once when Issac came back after his stroke (and Robert Guillaume’s came back from his real life one,) and once when Dana confronted and then reassured her little brother, who was in trouble for steriod use. Tears were streaming down my face. I like the show, but it’s not even my favorite one on now. I don’t get it…
Never saw it, but I can just imagine the impact this would have on me. I am a huge Star Trek Voyager fan, but have probably only seen a handful of episodes. Gawd, why’d they put that thing on at MIDNIGHT – I’m asleep 15 minutes into the episode…
Also, Feynn, I have NEVER seen the the infamous All in the Family episode where Edith dies. I’m sure I’d be a shoo in for tears for that one…
I absolutely LOVE and look forward to (with unashamed glee) the Christmas episode of the soap Days of Our Lives – you know, (for Days fans) the one where they hang individualized ornaments on Alice’s tree , all the while saying various “syrupy” stuff. It just gets me every time. 'course I’ve been watching Days since the 70’s so I have a definite vested interest in these characters…
I tear up so much watching TV and movies, I can’t even keep track anymore. But one small part of an episode of ER (or maybe it was Chicago Hope, doesn’t matter) has stayed with me for years.
Alan Rosenberg (he played Ira, Cybill’s ex-husband on Cybill) was a man with heart disease of some kind. He couldn’t have a transplant for some reason and there was nothing else that could be done for him. He was admitted to the hospital and was told that he only had a short amount of time to live because his heart was rapidly winding down.
He had a wife and a little girl and he just laid there on the bed with this horrifyingly anguished look on his face saying, “I don’t want to die!”
The poor man didn’t even have time to work out any acceptance or resolution to his fate. He just laid there knowing that pretty damn soon he was going to wink out like a candle flame. No “rage against the dying of the light” for him; it wouldn’t make a difference. How horrifying.
Simpsons: Bart and Lisa on opposing teams in peewee hockey. Four seconds to go: Bart has the penalty shot; Lisa has to block it. Bart’s supporters chanting “Kill, Bart! Kill, Bart! Kill, Bart!” Lisa’s supporters chanting, “Kill Bart! Kill Bart! Kill Bart!”
Sound fades away and Bart flashes back to baby Lisa snitching cookies and handing them to him. Lisa flashes back to giggling and clapping at Bart’s shadow pictures. Bart remembers Lisa putting a band-aid on his scraped knee. Lisa remembers Bart giving her half his ice cream when she dropped hers.
Bart chucks aside his stick; Lisa tosses the mask. Skate forward and meet in the middle.
“Great game, sis.”
“Great game, Bart.”
I’m tearing up just typing this.
Also, I didn’t see Free Willy, so I don’t know how I would have reacted, but I always get something in my eye when Homer says, “Jump, Free Willy! Jump with all your miiiiight!” Dan Castellaneta is worth his weight in gold.
All in the Family: The episode where Mike and Gloria leave. It was years before I could watch without breaking down. “I know I always acted like I hated you…But I love you…”
Roseanne: After years of neglecting DJ, the youngest, though she always claimed he was her favorite, Roseanne finally whales on him (for something he probably wouldn’t have done if he’d been getting enough attention). The overhead shot of her slumped at the kitchen table, presumably realizing she’s turned out like her abusive father, and the subsequent scene where she finally communicates with DJ, tear my heart out. “I’m sorry you got hit.” “Well, I’m sorry you got hit too. Real sorry. Like right now would be a good time to ask for a puppy!”
Also the scene where she talks to her dad in his coffin. “I’m angry at you for…and because you made us feel like we could never be good enough. But I forgive you, just because I need to get on with my life. And I forgive myself for being so darn angry.” At the door, she turns: “Thank you for your…humor…Iloveyougoodbye.”
LA Law: Arnie, the womanizing divorce lawyer, is ending his brief, half-assed marriage, which, of course, is due to his cheating. He’s overseeing a bitter property dispute, and suddenly freaks and starts throwing stuff, breaking a lava lamp and damaging a painting. “They are just things! No matter how much you love them…they will never love you back!” Later, Roxanne, his faithful-but-not-a-doormat secretary visits his pathetic transition apartment. “I don’t want to die alone, Rox…and I know that I’m going to…”
Also, and please don’t laugh, but before 90210 became a total soap opera, one of the original characters “accidentally” shot himself. I think they just created the character (a misfit, not a geek, just a loser) so they would have someone to kill off for a Very Special Episode, but David’s reaction was a cut above the typical “boo-hoo, life is short and precious”. “Why do you want to write a tribute for him? So people can glance at it once and throw it in the trash?..It doesn’t matter what you write about him in the paper. It doesn’t matter what you say about someone once they’re dead. What matters is how you treat them while they’re still here.”
I remember Mr Cooper.
:sniff:
In fact the supermarket opposite my school used to be caled *Cooper’*s.
It’s now a bar.
:sniff:
He’s not really dead, is he? He fled to Japan last year amid a financial scandal involving a close governmental ally, just like the guineau pig from Playschool. Right?
This is more of a Cafe Societish kinda thread.
Meet you there!
The all-time most heart-wrencing, painful, sad, and tear-inducing episode of any show, ever, was the last episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. My God, I cried like a baby for about an hour. The scene where the whole gang shuffles over to the table to get tissues, and then Mary gives her family speech: “You guys are my family.” Okay, I’m crying right now. The final shot, when she shuts off the lights and is silhouetted in the door - that was a moment of TV history. We all knew she was going to make it after all, but I have never cried so much over a TV show in my life. Oy vey!
Let me compose myself (I think I’m going to watch my tape of it tonight, to relive the emotions)…
The episode of ER when Nurse Hathaway leaves to find Doug. When she walks out on that pier, and “Taking You Home” by Don Henley is playing, and Doug just holds her face, cupped in his hands, before kissing her ever so gently…wow. Then he asks where the twins are…what a sad, sad moment. I was overjoyed to see Doug, saddened that Carol was leaving, emotional already because of what Luka confessed about his dead family, and that kiss just threw me into hysterics.
The Wonder Years is one of my all-time favorite shows as a kid, and I still love it (thank god for Nick At Nite - I have nearly five years worth of it on tape.) The episode where Winnie and Kevin’s schools both go on a field trip to the library, and she breaks up with him, is a killer.
The saddest, though, is the final one. At the very end, after you know (it’s alluded to) that Kevin and Winnie made love for the first time the night before, and then they show up for the Fourth of July parade, and Kevin explains what happens to his family - his dad died, his mom is still the maker-of-mashed-potatoes, and his brother takes over the furniture business. Kevin then waxes poetic on suburban life, and in closing, utters the line that breaks my heart every time:
There was a girl I knew who lived across the street. Brown hair, brown eyes. When she smiled, I smiled. When she cried, I cried. Every single thing that ever happened to me that mattered, in some way had to do with her.
My keyboards getting all wet. 